Thursday, 25 August 2011

Clampdown on Britain's far-right movement the English Defence League is needed before Britain witnesses an Anders Breivik style attack.

As the news emerged that the man behind the Oslo attacks was Anders
Breivik, a Christian, Norwegian right-wing extremist, hundreds across
the world immediately expressed their shock and wonder as to what led
Breivik to commit such acts.

As it was discovered that Breivik
had links and was influenced by Britain’s most notorious far-right
movement, the English Defence League (EDL), discussions and attention
turned to the EDL and right-wing extremism as policy-makers and
politicians assured the public only a minority of individuals in Britain
hold such views.

However, this is far from the case. Shockingly
enough, a large percentage of British individuals hold similar views on
Islam and are sympathetic to the EDL’s cause.

The English Defence League (EDL)

The
EDL is a far-right street protest movement which burst into the scene
in 2009. The group which claims to oppose Islamist extremism have been
at the forefront of damaging cohesion in communities across Britain.
Although the EDL have stated that they’re against Islamist extremism and
not Islam, their protests and targets have been areas where there are
large populations of Muslims. Members of the EDL have also been involved
in creating public disorder by attacking mosques and inciting fear and
hatred in communities across Britain.

Sympathy for the EDL?

I
grew up outside Britain. My first professional employment in England
was in an administrative role in a very multicultural environment. It
astonished me to find that many people had limited knowledge on other
cultures and religions other than their own, particularly Islam and
Muslims.

As I discovered more about the EDL, I was even more
astonished to find that a lot of young individuals considered this
organisation to be part of British culture and were sympathetic to their
views and actions. As I dug deeper to gain some understanding as to why
anyone could hold such views (I was under the impression that British
people had a high level of tolerance for diversity and Islam), I
realised their influence was coming from media outlets such as the Daily Mail and The Sun which have been strong adherents of the anti-Islam movement in Britain.

The
Poppy burning event that took place on Remembrance Day 2010 by thirty
Muslim individuals, under an extremist group Muslim Against Crusaders,
resulted in my Facebook page being filled with anti-Islam posts such as
“Muslims go home,’’ ‘‘Muslims if you don’t like our country, go back to
your own,’’ ignoring the fact that half of those involved in the poppy
burning demonstration in London were a tiny minority and probably born
and bred in Britain. Where could they go home to exactly?

But it wasn’t just my Facebook page that I was seeing such comments. An article
posted shortly after the incident , showed that approximately 240, 000
UK Facebook users posted bigotry comments in response to the incident
such as ‘‘rageheads Pakis,’’ ‘‘filthy Muslims’’ and “save a poppy burn a
Muslim.’’ These were read and reposted by hundreds worldwide.

Tolerance and Diversity

Not
all British people hold such views. There are a lot of people who
believe in diversity, freedom of speech and share the principles of
tolerance and multiculturalism. Sadly enough, I’ve found that those who
don’t are usually from deprived communities, uneducated and ignorant to
the extent that they’ve relied on right-wing media outlets to understand
Islam and Britain.

While these individuals may not be extreme
enough to attend an EDL demonstration or carry acts such as Breivik,
sympathising with the cause is enough for politicians and law
enforcement officers to be worried. As Mathew Goodwin, a researcher into
right-wing extremism at the University of Nottingham points out:

‘‘The
electoral rise of far right parties across Europe in recent years has
been much noticed. But the far right is also shifting toward a more
confrontational, violent strategy. Many militants have concluded that
the far right politicians sitting in parliaments across Europe have
failed to stop immigration, and that the ballot box cannot stem the
growth of Muslim communities. For angry white men such as Breivik, only
violence is left.’’

Right-Wing Extremism vs. Islamist Extremism

While
over £60m have been spent on combating Islamist extremism under a
controversial Preventing Extremism programme, it is time for another
£60m to deal with this emerging right-wing extremism threat.

And
policy-makers are now realising this as the focus from Islamist
extremism and Muslims shifts to right-wing extremism and underprivileged
British ‘white’ born youths. Already the ground-breaking Channel
project, which has focused on Islamist extremism, has been widely
expanded to spot those who may be at risk of being radicalised by groups
such as the EDL. According to reporter Sam Chadderton,
authorities in Lancashire have been receiving a number of referrals
from adults concerning children who may be influenced by right-wing
views. And just last week, a 25,000 signature petition has been handed
to the Scotland Yard calling for the police to ban an EDL march
scheduled to take place the 3rd September in Tower Hamlets, a largely
Muslim populated area. Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron has also
been at the forefront of condemning the motives of the EDL by labeling
its members as ‘sick.’

The £60 million invested into preventing
Islamist extremism across Britain may have succeeded to engage and
empower Muslim communities to the extent that the threat has now been
reduced. However, in the process, the far-right has been allowed to
prosper and gain in numbers. It’s now time for counter-terrorism efforts
to focus on combating right-wing extremism before Britain witnesses its
very own Anders Breivik style attack.

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About Me

Journalist, writer and researcher specialising in issues concerning Muslim communities, community cohesion, radicalisation and counter-terrorism policy
Contributes to the Huffington Post UK and the Independent and hosts a blog on combating extremism